Abstract This article examines the revitalization of African language survivals in the former maroon community of Palenque, Colombia. During much of the 20th century, lexical Africanisms in everyday Palenquero creole were scant. Ritual language (Lumbalú) and the speech of a few elderly Palenqueros still contained isolated Africanisms, but these had become archaic, nearing extinction. Profound sociolinguistic changes in Palenque in the 1980-90s introduced sentiments of negritud (‘black awareness’) and appreciation for “all things African”, lexicalia included. Thus, younger Palenqueros – with the help of some Lengua teachers – developed lists of Afro-Palenquero archaisms, rescuing them from oblivion. Various mechanisms spread these lexicalia “africana” to the wider speech community, where they are embraced as an index of their maroon and Afro-Colombian identity.